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The use of catalysts in speeding up the rate of a wide range of chemical reactions or providing access to reaction products that might not otherwise be economically feasible is well known. Particularly useful in an industrial setting is the formation of alcohols, such as ethanol, from syngas which is a mixture of, largely, carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2).
Catalysts that are suitable for syngas to alcohol conversion can be categorised as Rh-based, modified Fisher-Tropsch synthesis catalysts, modified methanol synthesis catalysts and MoS2-based catalysts. The MoS2-based catalysts have achieved useful levels of CO conversion with favourable ethanol selectivity.
Variations on the MoS2 catalyst include the Ni(Co)MoS2 catalyst, also known as a hydrotreating catalyst, which is used mainly to remove sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen from crude oil feedstock. Mixed Ni and/or Co MoS2 catalysts have also been used in syngas to ethanol conversion.
Syngas to liquid catalysts are often very expensive to produce due to the involvement of precious metals in their composition as well as the intensive and cyclical approach used for their synthesis. This has limited their industrial use.
To date most work in this technology area has focused on the composition of the catalyst including ratios of dopants and promoter atoms to Mo, and the like along with variations in reaction conditions for the syngas to alcohol transformation, such as varying pressure, syngas ratio, space velocity, and CO2 or H2S addition into feed gas. There has been little exploration on the importance of the approach to the synthesis of the catalysts themselves and the effects of the synthesis parameters on catalyst properties.
It would be useful to provide a method for producing a catalyst suitable for syngas conversion which is straightforward in operation and which can provide for a catalyst with useful morphology.